Ungoliantschilde

Howard Porter and John Dell “Fire in the Sky” JLA #6 Zauriel title splash (1997) Source

Colors by Pat Garrahy

Marvel going bankrupt in the late ‘90s wasn’t a surprise. It was like that scene in Talladega Nights where the car crash goes on for so long there’s a commercial break. Onslaught, the Heroes Reborn stuff. It was Ricky Bobby’s stock car endlessly flipping across the track and it was so bad they took a commercial break, only to come back for an even more drawn out car wreck.

X-Men was this huge hit in the 1980s, and it created Jim Lee (and by extension: Image Comics). Marvel reacted by doubling down. Crossover events every other month. Foil variants. Bolero jackets and pockets. It reached a boiling point.

Meanwhile, DC Comics killed Superman and then killed Batman. But. A small vertigo book was making waves. Alan Moore’s Swamp Thing is fantastic. Neil Gaiman’s Sandman was perhaps the most literary and well written comic of all time.

Grant Morrison’s Doom Patrol had a story arc about a painting attacking a city.

Naturally, DC editorial said fuck it and gave Grant Morrison the writing duties for the reboot of their premiere team. All the headliners: Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash, and Green Lantern. And Grant pulled an ace for the art duties. Howard Porter.

“JLA” was for the JLA what “Ultimates” and “New Avengers” was for the MCU. It made a failing property relevant for a new generation, and it rereads very well. (Skip the DC 1 Million Stuff).

According to Tom Scioli’s Kirby biography, the similarities between his work and Star Wars did not go unnoticed by Jack.

lol perfect :D

There is a very strong thread of Shakespearean influence with Kirby. The New Gods, the Asgardians, the Eternals, and the Inhumans are all remarkably Shakespearean in their thematic makeup.

Orion is like a war-mongering Hamlet. Raging against the memory of his father, while striving to be his own man, and yet doomed to be the same man as Uxas.

If anything, the heavy-handed Shakespearean influences were a turnoff for me in the beginning. They’re so overt that it was like getting hit over the head with the themes.

I am a fan of Kirby’s artwork and concepts. His writing is not great… it’s like Aasimov. Great ideas, storylines, and concepts but HORRIBLE character writing. Kirby’s ideas are amazing.

Orion is maybe his best original idea, in that it is so purely Kirby. There is no other creator. Orion is all Kirby. As I said, the Shakespearean themes abound, but the design is all Kirby.

So, as a fan of Orion, I have two suggestions: read Grant Morrison’s DC Comics work, and especially read Walt Simonson’s Orion book.

Grant Morrison & Howard Porter:

Walt-Mother-Fucking-Simonson:

Bizarro, by Frank Quitely

What if Bizarro isn't an imperfect clone, but an elderly Superman from an alternate dimension who has dementia.

Interesting take.

Grant Morrison’s version is my favorite. Not evil, and not stupid. Just… backwards.

New X-Men Character Design Concept Art by Frank Quitely

“Crisis Times Five!” by Howard Porter and Grant Morrison, with Inks by John Dell, Letters by Ken Lopez, Colors by Pat Garrahy, and Richard Isanove Colored the Cover Artwork.

1996's JLA #1 cover by Howard Porter, John Dell & Pat Garrahy.

From the beginning of the 1980s until the middle of the 1990s, the X-Men was an absolute juggernaut of popularity. It dominated the sales markets. Death of Superman, the Spider-Books, and the Image books were all trying to compete with the X-Titles.

In 1996, an atom-bomb went off. Coupled with poor editorial decisions and a deeply convoluted amount of backstory that was daunting for new readers, X-Men was waning in popularity. And DC’s up and coming hippest writer just launched a brand new version of the JLA with eye-popping art and thrills every page.

Reading Grant Morrison and Howard Porter’s JLA feels, in retrospect, like the Justice League and Justice League Unlimited tv show. Every episode was a must watch event. Every episode something big happened. And it was fun. Great, great series.

these no am the None-Blackhole Bizarro covers that Frank Quitely no penciled and Jamie Grant no colored for nobody to enjoy, so go away!

supaart:

Whenever I think of my all-time favorite comic writers, three names pop in my head:  Alan Moore, of course, and two lesser appreciated guys, Mark Gruenwald and John Ostrander.  

Who are your favorite comics writers?

Grant Morrison, Bendis, Matt Fraction, Alan Moore, Garth Ennis, Ed Brubaker, Chris Claremont, Larry Hama, Mark Waid, Kurt Busiek, Jason Aaron, Neil Gaiman, J. Michael Stracynzski, Roy Thomas, Jeph Loeb (only w/Tim Sale. Strictly!) Darwyn Cooke, Greg Rucka, Barry Windsor-Smith, Dan Slott, and more that I’m forgetting at the moment.

Of the above list, I will follow a select few to whatever book they write, regardless of my previous opinion of the character/book. Those select few are:

Bendis, Morrison, & Fraction.

Been more than 10 years since I answered this one. My answers were based on what I was reading at the time.

Bendis’ work on Ultimate Spider-Man and his Avengers run hold a very special place in my mind. Great at dialogue, great at pacing. And he’s fun at conventions. He’s an easy pick.

Morrison’s grand opus of DC Comics, that culminated in Final Crisis is one of the finest arcs I can think of. Morrison’s DC comics work alone is incredible. Add in NEW-X-MEN, and he’s this… guru.

Fraction’s Iron Fist and Hawkeye were stellar, but he actually got better once he started working on Sex Criminals with Zdarsky. Once Fraction wrote from his own heart, he got sooo much better. His Jimmy Olsen book is goddamn gold.

Alan Moore’s mainstream work has an undercurrent of cynicism and anger that turns me off. The whole deconstructionism period is kind of about breaking characters and explaining why they’re silly. And there’s an anger in that. A resentment towards the characters he grew up loving, and it’s coming through in his recent interviews where he casts further scorn on the genre and characters that he is most well known for writing. His best writing was on his own titles, especially the ABC Comics titles like Tom Strong and the League. “From Hell” is his masterpiece in my mind. Alan Moore is always gonna be the best writer in comics. But a lot of his work turns me off. I read Watchmen, V for Vendetta, and his compilation of DC stories. I own From Hell because of how good it is. That’s enough for me.

Neil Gaiman has become so much more prominent in the years since he was regularly writing comics. Those of us that read him from the beginning told ya so.

Kinda meh on JMS these days. And he’s a dick at conventions. Like he’s a bit miffed about signing comics. He’d rather you ask him about Babylon 5 or something.

Jeph Loeb and the late Tim Sale remains one of the greatest partnerships in the history of comics.

Darwyn Cooke is severely missed. Parker is sooo good.

Paul Dini should write more ongoing books, because he’s a got a very enjoyable voice for his characters. Watch Batman: the Animated Series again. The Paul Dini episodes are the gems.

Preacher got made into a show. The Boys is the best show on Amazon Prime. It’s a shame that no one figured out how to correctly adapt his Punisher run before Marvel sent Frank Castle out to pasture. Garth Ennis is goddamn brilliant. Especially his later work, focusing on Punisher and Nick Fury. Fucking amazing.

Busiek and Waid are still easy picks for a good read.

Roy Thomas wrote my favorite era of Marvel.

BWS is still a god.

Larry Hama is a longtime favorite.

Claremont needs to learn to shut up and let his artists tell the story.

Jason Aaron is like the marvel architect these days, and we’re lucky for it.

Hickman is a beast too, for that matter.

Brubaker wrote the best Captain America run I can think of.

Haters of Geoff Johns need to reread his Green Lantern run.

King’s Batman was flawless.

Mignola has quietly built one of the best universes in all of comics.

And, lastly, Mark Millar. His early 2000s stuff has aged weirdly. He’s still writing the same bombastic, fun comics though. And he’s still fun to read. And you can’t look at the box office and tell me his ideas don’t make money.

Action Comics, Vol. 1 # 844 and Batman, Vol. 1 # 655 had Variant Covers drawn by both of the Kubert Brothers. Adam and Andy Kubert going exclusive for DC Comics was big news back in 2006. Adam was gonna draw Superman, with a Script by Richard Donner and Geoff Johns. And Andy started his tenure on Batman, with a Script by Grant Morrison. To celebrate, the brothers did variant covers for each other’s books. 

Andy’s variant cover for Action Comics was Inked by Jesse Delperdang, and Colored by Moose Baumann. 

Adam was working in mixed media a lot around that time, and he did all of the Action Comics covers for his run in this same style, on that same sepia/brownish butcher paper. All of his Superman covers were published as-is too - just mixed media on brown paper. Pretty stuff. His Batman variant is one of my favorite images he’s ever created.

Wolverine by Frank Quitely

New X-Men 114 pg1 by Frank Quitely

with Inks by Tim Townsend, Colors by Brian Haberlin, Letters by ComicCraft, and a Script by Grant Morrison.

NEW X-MEN, Vol. 1 # 114

All-Star Superman, Vol. 1 # 03 Page 20 by Frank Quitely, with Colors by Jamie Grant, and a Script by Grant Morrison.